


The Haunting

by TheLostMaximoff



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, Pre-Season/Series 03, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-16 21:25:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9290207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLostMaximoff/pseuds/TheLostMaximoff
Summary: The day she discovers her powers, Caitlin realizes that not everything Zoom said was a lie.





	

The sound of thunder wakes her up in the middle of the night. Caitlin Snow rolls over in her bed and listens to the rain outside. Another boom of thunder rattles the room and Caitlin blinks at the crack of lightning that follows it. She sees something in the flash that dimly illuminates the room. She stares around her bedroom and sees nothing but darkness. There’s something moving in there though. She swears there is but that doesn’t make any sense. Her mind hasn’t been what it once was. After everything that Zoom put her through, she doesn’t trust herself. Everything feels broken, her most of all. As soon as she starts to think about it, she sees a tiny crackle of electricity. It zips through the door and into her living room. She feels her heart begin to race because the lightning is blue.

Caitlin tries to tell herself that this isn’t real. It can’t be because Zoom is dead. There’s no way he could still be alive. There’s no way he can hurt her again. It’s just her brain making her see things that aren’t there. There’s a scientific explanation for it because there’s one for everything in Caitlin’s world. Caitlin tenses as she sees another tiny flash of blue lightning. She wonders if the booming noise she hears is the thunder of the pounding of her own heart. She wonders if this is what Barry felt like the night that his mother died, the night that he saw the man inside the lightning.

“You’re not real,” says Caitlin as the blue lightning begins to spark and pop all around her bed. "You’re not real!“

The blue fades to black and it’s hard to see it in the darkness. She can still hear the noise but even that settles down as someone stands there. She doesn’t even have to look at his face to know who it is. He looks too healthy though, this speeding demon of a man. He doesn’t have a scratch on him and Caitlin finds herself jealous of it. She wants him to hurt like he hurt her. She wants him to break the way that he broke her.

"Hey, Caitlin,” greets Hunter Zolomon. "Did you miss me?“

"You’re a dead man,” states Caitlin, the malice radiating from her eyes. "There’s no way you could have survived.“

"Who says I did?” Hunter gives her a sick smile like he knows something that she doesn’t. He knows so many things now, most importantly what happens at the end of the line. "It’s a little ironic I suppose. I got what I wanted in the end. I’m the fastest man, just not alive.“

"Go away!” Caitlin feels like she’s trapped in the room. She desperately tries to get herself to move but she’s too paralyzed by the fear.

“You didn’t really think I’d let something like death keep me away from you, did you?” Hunter leans forward, reaching out to touch her and she recoils in terror and disgust. “You know, for a doctor you really are squeamish. I thought you’d have a stronger stomach.”

“Leave me alone,” orders Caitlin, feeling like a broken record. “Get out of my head and leave me the hell alone!”

“Fine,” says Hunter. "I have an eternity to wait, after all. You ever read any Emily Dickinson? You had Emily Dickinson on this Earth, right?“

"No, I didn’t,” says Caitlin, her voice dripping with sarcasm and contempt. "Please explain it to me.“

Hunter actually chuckles at her mocking him and the way he used to play ignorant for her. "You have such a great sense of humor, Caitlin. It’s one of the many things I love about you. As I was saying, Emily Dickinson is a favorite of mine. _‘Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me’ _. I am death, Caitlin, and everyone stops for me now. That includes your friend Barry and everyone like him. Even they can’t outrun me.”__

“You are pathetic and sick,” states Caitlin because she’s tired of watching this man with a diseased mind posture like a god in front of her. "You think all this talk of death scares me? I know what you really are, Hunter.“

"That’s funny because I can say the same thing about you.” Hunter moves around the bed and puts himself closer to Caitlin, again reaching out to touch her cheek. "I told you that you had a darkness inside of you. Pretty soon, you’re going to find out that I was right.“

"I am nothing like you.” Caitlin again denies his attempt at physical contact, the mere thought of it making her want to throw up.

“You sure about that? From where I’m standing, you don’t look all that different. In fact, you’ve never looked more beautiful.”

Caitlin feels something constricting her arms and looks down. She’s wearing a straightjacket somehow. It’s tied her arms around her in an embrace that’s meant to be anything but comforting. She struggles against the jacket, trying to squirm out of it. She doesn’t belong in one of these things. She’s not crazy. He’s the one who’s insane and she’s not like him. She’s always tried to keep herself together, keep herself sane. She’s always pulled herself back from the edge but now it’s so hard. Everything feels like it’s spinning out of control and she can’t stop it.

“I’m not like you!” she shouts at him. "I’m not like you! I’m not like you!“

Hunter doesn’t say anything in response. He just laughs at her the same way he was laughing at her the entire time he was masquerading as someone else. He played her for an absolute fool and even in death he has no regrets about it. Caitlin feels herself scream her lungs out but it can’t drown out his laughter.

Caitlin feels her eyes open and she fumbles, kicking and clawing at the sheets tangled around her. She shakes her head, trying to get the echoes of Zoom’s laugh out of her head. She looks around her bedroom and sees nothing but darkness. The lightning cracks outside but, thankfully, there’s none inside the room. Her breath comes in ragged gasps and her face is slick with sweat. She immediately gets out of bed and goes to the bathroom. She splashes some cold water on her face and tries to get herself to stop shivering. Zoom is dead and he’s never going to haunt her again. She’s getting better. It’s become her daily affirmation. She’s still moving forward, still trying to run towards the future and away from the past. She’s getting better. She has to be getting better.

Caitlin puts her hands into the stream of water and looks at herself in the mirror. She realizes that she looks a little pale. Her lips look discolored too, like she’s been out in the cold for too long. It’s the middle of summer though. It hasn’t been cold for months now. She finds herself still shivering. Her hands are freezing and she pulls them out of the water. It’s then that she notices that the water coming from the faucet isn’t water anymore. It’s a solid column of ice.

"What?” asks Caitlin to herself as she stares at her hands and the curling wisps of icy smoke that emanate from them.

This … this can’t be right. This isn’t right because she’s not supposed to be this. She’s not supposed to be Killer Frost. She’s supposed to be Caitlin Snow. She’s not a killer or a monster. She’s a good person. It’s then that she remembers Zoom’s words. _'I told you that you had a darkness inside of you. Pretty soon, you’re going to find out that I was right.’ ___

Caitlin’s not getting better because there is no getting better. There’s only hiding the fact that she’s broken. There’s only lying to her friends because they could never accept the truth. She realizes that they’re not so different in the end, she and Zoom. Both of them deceive everyone around them, even deceive themselves. Caitlin watches the ice in her hands subside and the warmth of a summer night seeps into her body once more. She stops shaking but it’s because she accepts something. She can’t lock up the darkness forever despite all her efforts. Someday, Zoom will come for her, and what haunts her the most is the idea that part of her eagerly anticipates it.


End file.
